Heat insulating cup sleeve

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a heat insulating cup sleeve formed by folding a blank and including a first heat insulating sheet having a first holding portion, a first extending portion, and a first fold line and a second heat insulating sheet having a second holding portion, a second extending portion, and a second fold line. The second fold line is connected with the first holding portion, and the first fold line is connected with the second holding portion. The first holding portion and the second holding portion are capable of being folded downward along the second fold line and the first fold line, respectively, to form an opening. When a cup is inserted into the opening, the first holding portion and the second holding portion press against an outer surface of the cup.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 101221329 filed in Taiwan, Republic of China on Nov. 2, 2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to a heat insulating apparatus for a cup and, more particularly, to a foldable heat insulating cup sleeve.

2. Description of Related Arts

In daily life, hot beverages are often served in containers with poor heat insulation such as disposable paper cups, ceramic cups, or glass cups and so on. These containers easily result in discomfort to users when they hold the containers, and even scalding may occur. Otherwise when the container has smooth outer surface, the container may easily slip out of the user's hand thus causing broken and pollution. For a take-out hot beverage, a heat insulating cup sleeve is usually used to wrap around the cup to prevent scalding due to the hot beverage when the user's hand holds the cup. Shops usually using the heat insulating cup sleeves just taking domestic coffee shops and beverage shops for example are already tens of thousands. If the statistics scope is expanded to the global countries or areas, the consumption is hard to estimate.

Although the conventional cup sleeves are simple in structure, most of them are made of paper material and are cylindrical for wrapping around the outer walls of the cups. Accordingly, to keep the shape of the cup sleeve, an adhering process has to be needed or the cup sleeve has to be bayonet-shaped thus increasing manufacture cost.

Further, this kind of heat insulating cup sleeve is basically disposable thus causing material waste and environment pollution.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The invention provides a heat insulating cup sleeve to improve the prior art. The heat insulating cup sleeve has some advantages such as simple structure, convenient manufacture, and material saving. Further, when different materials are used, the heat insulating cup sleeve can be reusable thus being environmentally friendly.

A heat insulating cup sleeve according to the invention is formed by folding a blank and includes a first heat insulating sheet having a first holding portion, a first extending portion, and a first fold line and a second heat insulating sheet having a second holding portion, a second extending portion, and a second fold line. The second fold line is connected with the first holding portion, and the first fold line is connected with the second holding portion. The first holding portion and the second holding portion are capable of being folded downward along the second fold line and the first fold line, respectively, to form an opening. When a cup is inserted into the opening, the first holding portion and the second holding portion press against an outer surface of the cup.

Compared with the prior art, the invention can nearly save 50% materials, and only a cutting process is needed for manufacture while folding and adhering processes have to be needed in the prior art. In addition, the volume is reduced due to the material saving, thus saving transport cost and increasing reserve. Further, the heat insulating cup sleeve can be grouped into two categories according to the manufacture materials: disposable one and reusable one to be environmentally friendly and save resources.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a heat insulating cup sleeve according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of a heat insulating cup sleeve according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of a heat insulating cup sleeve according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is an expanded schematic diagram of a heat insulating cup sleeve according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of protrusions according to another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of protruding textures according to a third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In one embodiment (please refer to FIG. 1), a heat insulating cup sleeve 1 is made of paper material and mainly includes a first heat insulating sheet 11 and a second heat insulating sheet 12. The first heat insulating sheet 11 has a first holding portion 111, a first extending portion 112, and a first fold line 113. The second heat insulating sheet 12 has a second holding portion 121, a second extending portion 122, and a second fold line 123. The second fold line 123 is connected with the first holding portion 111, and the first fold line 113 is connected with the second holding portion 121. The first holding portion 111 and the second holding portion 121 can be folded downward along the second fold line 123 and the first fold line 113, respectively, to form an opening 14 (please refer to FIG. 4). When a cup is inserted into the opening 14, the first holding portion 111 and the second holding portion 121 press against an outer surface of the cup. The heat insulating cup sleeve 1 has a cut line 13 for separating the heat insulating cup sleeve 1 into the first heat insulating sheet 11 and the second heat insulating sheet 12 (please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3). The cut line 13 is S-shaped for maximizing the areas of the heat insulating sheets and protecting hands better. However, the invention is not limited thereto.

In another embodiment in FIG. 5, the first heat insulating sheet 11 and the second heat insulating sheet 12 have a plurality of protrusions, respectively, for preventing slippage and providing adequate heat insulation.

In a third embodiment in FIG. 6, the heat insulating cup sleeve 1 is made of silica gel, and the first heat insulating sheet 11 and the second heat insulating sheet 12 have a plurality of protruding textures, respectively. The textures are strip-shaped or ring-shaped. The heat insulating cup sleeve 1 made of silica gel can be used repeatedly, and the protruding textures can help preventing slippage and providing adequate heat insulation.

The heat insulating cup sleeve 1 can be used easily (please refer to FIG. 4). At the S-shaped cut line 13 of the heat insulating cup sleeve 1, the first heat insulating sheet 11 and the second heat insulating sheet 12 can be folded downward along the first fold line 113 and the second fold line 123, respectively, to allow the heat insulating cup sleeve 1 to form a round opening 14. When the round opening 14 is kept, the first holding portion 111 and the second holding portion 121 should be opened by one hand, and the bottom of the cup should be inserted into the opened opening 14 by the other hand. Then the heat insulating cup sleeve 1 is pushed upward until the opening 14 holds the cup closely. At this time, the first holding portion 111 and the second holding portion 121 press against an outer surface of the cup. When using the heat insulating cup sleeve 1, a user's hand can hold the first holding portion 111 and the second holding portion 121 pressing against the outer surface of the cup for heat insulation.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above. 

1. A heat insulating cup sleeve comprising: a first heat insulating sheet having a first holding portion, a first extending portion, and a first fold line; and a second heat insulating sheet having a second holding portion, a second extending portion, and a second fold line, wherein the second fold line is connected with the first holding portion, the first fold line is connected with the second holding portion, the first holding portion and the second holding portion are capable of being folded downward along the second fold line and the first fold line, respectively, to form an opening, and when a cup is inserted into the opening, the first holding portion and the second holding portion press against an outer surface of the cup.
 2. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 1, further having a cut line for separating the heat insulating cup sleeve into the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet.
 3. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 2, wherein the cut line is S-shaped.
 4. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of paper material.
 5. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 4, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protrusions, respectively.
 6. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of silica gel.
 7. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 6, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protruding textures, respectively.
 8. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 2, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of paper material.
 9. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 8, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protrusions, respectively.
 10. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 3, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of paper material.
 11. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 10, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protrusions, respectively.
 12. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 2, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of silica gel.
 13. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 12, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protruding textures, respectively.
 14. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 3, wherein the heat insulating cup sleeve is made of silica gel.
 15. The heat insulating cup sleeve according to claim 14, wherein the first heat insulating sheet and the second heat insulating sheet have a plurality of protruding textures, respectively. 